Alexandria Avila: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Alexandria Avila

City: Mundelein

Office sought: School Board Member of ESD 75 2019-2023

Age: 35

Family: Husband and 3 kids (1-High School, 1-Middle School and 1-Primary School)

Occupation: Administrative Assistant- Vernon Township

Civic involvement: I have always enjoyed to help people in my community, but in 2015 that's when I saw the impact that my voice on the school board being Latina with my background in immigration, low income, learning disabilities, peer rejection and single parent, had a positive major impact in the life of hundreds of kids.

Previous elected offices held: School Board Member Of Mundelein ESD 75

Incumbent? If yes, when were you first elected? Yes, 2015-2019

Issue questions

What are the most important issues facing your district and how do you intend to address them?

The most important issues that my district is facing in my opinion are 2, the way the district spends State and Federal Grants. And the lack of EQUITY in services provided for struggling students. We cannot raise overall outcomes without addressing this huge problem. How can we address these 2 issues? The school board should include a breach of trust and moral turpitude clause in the contract for all administrators and office personnel; it needs to be enforced to hold them accountable for their actions even after retirement or employed by another school district. The lives of many families in our community are affected by the decisions they take and they should be accountable for them. The

board of education needs to adopt a Strategic Vision on how to become a school that focuses on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs); if anyone currently in the district's payroll doesn't know what that means they have no business working in our District (IMO).

How satisfied are you that your school district is adequately preparing students for the next stage in their lives, whether it be from elementary into high school or high school into college or full-time employment? What changes, if any, do you think need to be made?

I'm not content with the school adequacy, most programs are focused to help average students succeed. We need to stop the inattentional blindness that part of our district suffers from and focus on ALL including the well below average students.

What budgetary issues will your district have to confront during the next four years and what measures do you support to address them? If you believe cuts are necessary, be specific about programs and expenses that should be considered for reduction or elimination. On the income side, do you support any tax increases? Be specific.

I'm in conflict with the monetary figures our district presents to the board every quarter. One quarter we are in deficit and administration recommends to RIF, cut programs including Preschool for all and Summer School for at risk students. The next quarter a healthy budget is presented and administration recommends increases to administrators, on top of what their contract stipulates.

Are you currently employed by or retired from a school district, if so, which one? Is any member of your direct family - spouse, child or child-in-law - employed by the school district where you are seeking a school board seat?

No, I'm not employed by or retired from ESD75, none of my direct nor immediate family work for

ESD75

As contract talks come up with various school employee groups - teachers, support staff, etc. - what posture should the school board take? Do you believe the district should ask for concessions from its employees, expect employee costs to stay about the same as they are now or provide increases in pay or benefits?

I would like to see the board approve a raise in min. wage to $15 to all support staff employees, for teachers 5 percent to 10 percent increase if they make less than a certain amount with 5 extra full school days of attendance, our teachers are the most important school-based determinant of student educational performance.

* If your district had a superintendent or other administrator nearing retirement, would you support a substantial increase in his or her pay to help boost pension benefits? Why or why not?

Absolutely not, this type of practice should be banned. Administrators get paid more than 100k a year, plus benefits, administrator increases and their high salaries is something that our state needs to address, admin. salaries need to be a par with teachers salaries.